My Brain Food This Week...
National health insurance is a burden for South Africa, an 11 month old baby born deaf is cured with gene therapy, Chat GPT 4o is a game changer, and as a builder I wrote some lessons about WhatsApp
Story of the week:
Understanding the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill
(Discovery Health)
Key takeaways:
Future Role of Medical Schemes: The NHI Act raises questions about the role of private healthcare and medical schemes once fully implemented, potentially limiting citizens' healthcare choices and burdening the public system.
Constitutional Concerns: There are worries that restricting medical scheme options may infringe on citizens' constitutional rights to access healthcare, resembling limitations on private education or security.
Challenges in NHI Financing: The NHI Act lacks clarity on funding sources, and the economic challenges make significant tax increases or new revenue streams unrealistic, suggesting a slow rollout without substantial economic improvement.
Role of Private Sector: Private hospitals and health professionals are expected to play a supplementary role in the NHI, with emphasis on collaboration and ensuring fair remuneration to retain skilled professionals.
Legislative Process and Challenges: The NHI Act's passage faces criticism for its flaws and potential legal challenges, while the lengthy implementation timeline underscores the necessity of private sector collaboration for a viable and comprehensive NHI.
Will national health care be good or bad for South Africa?
Share your thoughts in the comments 👇🏾
💎 Africa
Discovery CEO Adrian Gore has addressed concerns regarding the impact of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act on medical aid members in South Africa. He reassured members that their benefits won't be affected for a long time and emphasised the complexity of fully implementing the NHI, which could take a decade. Despite worries about Section 33 of the Act, which suggests eventual replacement of medical scheme cover by the NHI, Gore pointed out that medical aids will still cover services not provided by the NHI even after full implementation. However, this scenario may lead to triple taxation for healthcare, with implications for income tax, VAT, NHI surcharges, and medical aid premiums. Gore criticised the Act's feasibility and potential legal challenges, emphasising the need for collaboration between public and private healthcare sectors for a sustainable solution. Discovery, along with other groups, plans legal action against the Act to ensure equitable access to care without compromising medical scheme members' rights.
🌐 Global
Opal Sandy, a baby girl from Oxfordshire, regained her hearing after receiving groundbreaking gene therapy at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge at just 11 months old. Born deaf due to a rare genetic condition called auditory neuropathy, Opal became the first British patient and youngest child to undergo this treatment globally. The therapy, targeting the OTOF gene responsible for auditory neuropathy, involved injecting a harmless virus containing a functional copy of the gene into Opal's cochlea during surgery. Within weeks, Opal began responding to sound, with significant improvement observed over time. At 18 months old, she can now hear her parents' voices and say words like "Dada" and "bye-bye." This success marks a pivotal moment in the future of treating genetic hearing loss, potentially offering an alternative to cochlear implants.
WhatsApp's recent updates, including the introduction of features like Communities, Channels, and Meta AI, signal a strategic effort by Meta to enrich user interactions and pave the way for increased monetisation opportunities, particularly for WhatsApp Business. These additions aim to keep users engaged on the platform, with Meta potentially leveraging data collected from user interactions to drive targeted advertisements. While WhatsApp has historically contributed less than 1% to Meta's revenue, the platform's potential for targeted advertising, based on the number of users that WhatsApp has, suggests that ads on WhatsApp are highly likely in the future.
On X…
Other reading…
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David Sacks reveals Glue, the AI company he’s been teasing on his All In podcast
🚀 Podcasts & Video
🤔 What did you think of the story of the week, or any other piece of content?
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